Great thread! (Although I'm still looking for Tallamy's list of trees and the number of butterfly/insect species each tree species hosts.)

I had a similar thought that a children's book might be a great idea--that's the place to start raising awareness about the importance of planting natives and eliminating non-native invasives.

Story-line: A Monarch is attracted to a Buddleia, meets her mate there, is ready to find a nice place to lay her eggs, but the nearest Asclepias is too far away. . .

Normally I avoid anything 'Disney', but if that's what it takes to get the message out, it's worth it.
Maybe Disney can patent and sell an Asclepias cultivar--not much in it for them otherwise.

It might be worth a letter or two to Tallamy and to children's authors like Lynne Cherry (The Great Kapok Tree, The Mangrove Tangle, etc.) and others who write with an environmentally-conscious conscience!

THe top of this thread wishes that scientists and philosophers would work together to solve the environment's woes. That will happen when ordinary folks actually put the planet's health ahead of their own selfish wants. In other words, when pigs and birds inherit the world after humans become extinct. How come homo ignoramus gets to live wherever he wants but forbids importating exotic animals? I'm against bringing in non-native animals and plants, of course. But at this point I wonder if the whole shebang will continue much longer anyway. 122112 is just around the corner and I half expect all those scientists and humanitarian writers would just tell us to carpe diem while the sun shines.

How come homo ignoramus gets to live wherever he wants but forbids importating exotic animals?

Homo ignoramus is actually Homo sapiens sapiens. Homo sapiens sapiens is definitely an aggressive weed species but it is indigenous to all continents unlike Phascolarctos cinereus which is only indigenous to Australia. I agree with you. The humanitarian writers want the scientific community to play nice nice with them and while they're off in la la land, one animal after the next is going extinct while the majority of Homo ignoramus is busy reproducing beyond the carrying capacity of the earth. Welcome to Wildlife Gardeners maypop. The more people like you the less likely the cockroach will inherit our earth instead of our children.

__________________
"In the end we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; we will understand only what we have been taught."
-Baba Dioum, Senegalese ecologist